Who Are You Crying For (5), Dunkirk Campaign of Western Europe?

  The British Expeditionary Force Headquarters, after learning that the German armored forces had broken through the British Expeditionary Force and the French 36th Infantry Division's outer defense line at Dunkirk, believed that their defensive lines had shrunk significantly compared to before and could now be defended more densely. There shouldn't be any major problems with the defense. Since the miraculous appearance of the British Army's 3rd Division on that day, which plugged the gap in the defensive line exposed by the surrender of Belgian troops, although the British Expeditionary Force and French 36th Infantry Division's outer defense line at Dunkirk had been under increasing pressure from the Germans, no major problems had arisen. Additionally, yesterday the Royal Air Force transport planes, escorted by fighter jets, despite being threatened by German air force fighters, managed to deliver a batch of ammunition and supplies to their own troops, allocating most of them to the British and French forces on the front lines. Therefore, they believed that the defensive line could still be held for five or six more days.

  But things often turn out to be unexpected, and what seemed to be a solid position for oneself, especially the defensive positions of the British Third Infantry Division under Montgomery's command, which were considered the most solid, but how did the German army break through the most solid positions of the British Expeditionary Force and the French 36th Army Corps in the outer first line of defense at Dunkirk? However, he no longer had time to think about it, and his urgent task was to stabilize the front as soon as possible, and hold the ground firmly on the second line of defense. Otherwise, the British Expeditionary Force and the French 36th Army Corps would only be driven into the sea at Dunkirk.

  Lord Gort began to issue orders, ordering the troops that had not yet gathered on the beach to report to the second line of defense outside Dunkirk. At the same time, he requested by wireless telegram that London provide another batch of ammunition and also called up his own tank reserve unit to prepare for a counter-attack against the German tanks that had broken through. Delaying the German army's attack speed, to gain time for their own defensive battle on the second line of defense.

  At this time, Montgomery had already led his own British Third Infantry Division reserve brigade to intercept and round up the fleeing troops from the front line after they crossed a small river and established a temporary defensive position to prepare for the German attack, in order to gain time for other frontline units to withdraw, because behind him was an intersection, and other frontline units had to pass through this intersection when withdrawing. Montgomery knew that if he allowed the German mobile troops to occupy this intersection, other frontline units would face the danger of being surrounded by the Germans.

  He knew that his troops were now short of guns and ammunition, and if the Germans attacked, he might not be able to hold them off. So he contacted British Expeditionary Force Headquarters to request reinforcements. He also set up explosives on a small bridge over the river, so that if German armored forces appeared and could not resist, he would blow up the bridge to slow down the German armored advance.

  GHQ quickly replied to him, requiring him to hold the bridge at all costs until the British Expeditionary Force and the French 36th Infantry Division completed the second line of defense on the outskirts of Dunkirk, and GHQ also dispatched the Tank Reserve - 2nd Royal Tank Regiment to him. In addition, he had the right to command troops withdrawn from the front line.

  The British War Office, upon receiving a telegram from the GHQ of the BEF reporting that German troops had broken through the first defensive line outside Dunkirk, where the BEF and the French XVI Corps were stationed, was also shocked. The Secretary of State for War rushed to 10 Downing Street to report to the Prime Minister.

  When he entered Churchill's office, Churchill saw his sweaty face and said discontentedly: "Eden, what made you so anxious. Remember, you are a noble British gentleman, not an uncouth American cowboy."

  The Minister of War hastily handed over the telegram in his hand; "Our expeditionary force at Dunkirk is in big trouble. At dawn today, the German 7th Armored Division and the Waffen-SS 'Skull' Division broke through our outer defense line outside Dunkirk. The German army is now advancing towards Dunkirk, Lord Gort has organized troops to intercept and start building a second line of defense. However, he reported that his troops are currently short of ammunition and it is difficult to stop the German armored forces."

  "Didn't we send a batch of ammunition to him yesterday? Our air force suffered great losses for this, where did he put the ammunition?" Churchill said discontentedly.

  "He distributed most of the ammunition to the front-line defense troops, now that the front-line defense has been broken through by the Germans, those ammunitions must have also fallen into the hands of the Germans." said Secretary of War Eden.

  "How was our position broken through? Didn't Lord Gort tell us that his line of defense was still holding?" Churchill asked in puzzlement.

  Minister of War Eden said: "Lord Gort said in his report that the reason was that the German 7th Armored Division and the Armed Party Guard 'Skull' Division took advantage of our retreat to abandon a large number of military uniforms and weapons, disguised as our lost troops, pretending to break through the German position and arrive at our military position. Before the German attack, they stole our defensive posture, and after the attack began, they killed many of our officers and soldiers. In addition, the Germans used very cunning artillery fire to pretend to extend their front line, and infantry pretended to charge, deceiving our frontline troops who were not prepared for the German trickery, and were killed or injured by their artillery fire. Our army was thrown into chaos under the attack from both inside and outside, and the Germans took advantage of the situation to break through our defensive lines. We must quickly restore the execution of the ' Dynamo' plan, I fear that our expeditionary force will not be able to hold on for much longer."

  "The Air Force and Navy have brought in a plan. The plan is to start action this afternoon. So, I urged them to restore the 'power generation' plan as soon as possible, and also the issue of the Air Force continuing to drop ammunition. If you don't have anything else to say, I'll start notifying the Air Force and Navy now. After that, I will go to His Majesty the King to report our current situation." Churchill said.

  At this time, on the small river outside Dunkirk, British soldiers and officers were constantly passing over the bridge that could barely pass through tanks. Montgomery inquired about the situation of the German army from those British soldiers and officers who had retreated from the front line. The answer was that the German army had broken through the first line of defense of the British Expeditionary Force and the French 36th Division, and the second armored echelon of the German army was rushing into these breakthroughs like a herd of wildebeests on the African savannah.

  At this time, several armored wheeled reconnaissance vehicles of the 38th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 7th Armored Division and Joseph's assault troops merged with Frank Beck's tank company to form the vanguard of the 7th Armored Division. They also quickly bypassed the British fugitives. In order not to disturb them, they relied on their high mobility to advance rapidly on a small forest path and also reached Montgomery's defense line.

  Joseph and Frank Beck, along with Lieutenant Sandel of the 38th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and a few soldiers from Joseph's assault team, crept up to a small hill overlooking the British positions. They set up their binoculars and observed the British lines.

  "Can tanks cross this bridge near the river?" Frank Becker asked. "If so, we must take down this bridge!"

  "Look!" cried Lieutenant Sanderson suddenly; "what's that thing over there?"

  Several people lifted up the binoculars and looked, finding that on the distant horizon there were some square-headed things moving slowly. However, the distance was too far, and it was still unclear what they were. After those square-headed things were magnified in the binoculars, several people couldn't help but exclaim: "It's the British tanks we encountered in Aras!"

  A few people continued to observe with binoculars until they confirmed the scale, and then a few people hastily left the observation point, leaving behind snipers to continue observing the British army's movements.

  Sander Lieutenant rushed back to his reconnaissance car at a speed of 100 meters, turned on the radio and began to report to the headquarters of the 7th Armored Division.

  "We have reached our designated location at Bridge 1, where we found that the British had built a defensive position on the edge of Bridge 1. We also discovered British tanks, which are the same type as those we encountered in Arras."

  "Are you sure? Is it the British tank model we encountered in Aras?" The combat staff officer responsible for communication on the radio began to get nervous.

  "I'm certain, 75 vehicles." Lieutenant Sandel's voice was tense but full of strong confidence.

  The operations officer immediately reported to General Rommel: "Report, the 38th Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion has sent back a report. They say they have encountered British armoured troops at Bridge No. 1 - the same British tanks we met at Arras."